One would think that despite being in an induced coma for nearly an entire month would leave one feeling rejuvenated and ready to move around as much as possible, since waking up, Renata just found herself feeling tired nearly all the time. Far too often, she would find herself drifting in and out, even if she was sharing a conversation with someone. Of course, everyone knew that she didn't mean to fall asleep on them, she certainly wasn't trying to be rude by any means, Renata just couldn't help it. The Healers explained that during her time in a coma, she wasn't getting the rest she needed, she was just merely unconscious rather than getting the full REM sleep that everyone needed to function properly.

Sometimes she would drift and be able to listen to the conversations taking place around her but not find herself able to respond. However, she always forced herself to try harder to remain alert and perky whenever Harry or any of the other children were visiting. Such as when Molly arrived with all of her children in tow, apparently, they had all made "Get Well Soon" cards for her and wanted to present them to Renata themselves. She sat up during every visit, trying to focus as much as possible.

There were times where she couldn't remember something, such as a simple request of asking for water even though she had been the one to ask for it moments prior. Other times, she was overwhelmed by information that seemed to be circulating through her head at a rapid pace. Renata was left with headaches some days, feeling quite grouchy during others, but she never really showed it when she had visitors. When James came around with Harry nearly every single day, Renata forced a smile on her face.

However, while that would have worked early on when they first met, James liked to believe that he knew Renata a lot better than she assumed. He could tell that she was tired, whether it was the bags under her eyes or the sleepy grin on her face that she greeted him with daily. He knew she was tired and there was nothing she could say to lie her way out of it. Which was why he decided to wean off the days where he brought Harry, to give her a break. James figured she was trying to keep a strong demeanour in front of Harry, above all people.

But Renata needed those moments where she could ask for help, days where she could complain that she didn't want to go for walks to strengthen her muscles again, and she wanted to be able to spit out the food that St Mungo's fed her without setting a bad example for Harry. She needed those days where she didn't have to be a role model or perfect and James was willing to help her out with that.

One afternoon as James left Harry in the care of Molly once more, he ventured to St Mungo's alone. Sirius was more than likely already there, he had been beyond thrilled when Renata woke up, hoping that it meant that Adelmo would be waking up soon himself. The problem was, according to Renata, her memories showed that Adelmo suffered much more of the abuse and it was possible that all the foul memories were taking such a toll on him that it was best for him to remain under for a little while longer. Sirius was upset, but he remained supportive, staying by Adelmo's side and checking in on Renata mostly in the mornings.

However, when James arrived that afternoon, he found that Renata was returning from visiting in Adelmo's room, being pushed in a wheelchair, much to her displeasure. They were working daily to strengthen her muscles again and Renata was just wondering if they would come up with a healing spell, potion, or draught just to speed up what had deteriorated over time. But she was out of such luck for the time being, and the only healing nature was therapy. It was more along the lines that she was frustrated that she couldn't do more.

Such simple tasks like walking up and down the corridor of the Janus Thickey ward proved to be an absolute pain. She couldn't walking unassisted and usually after five minutes or so, she couldn't bring herself to walk much more.  And as James walked into her room, he could see the dreaded look on her face as she was already anticipating her walk that afternoon with one of the Healers most likely.

"How are you feeling today?" he asked as he walked in, startling her a bit as she hadn't been paying attention.

"I'm alright," she answered, though her tone stated otherwise. In fact, to James, she sounded absolutely miserable which was quite the opposite that he was used to when it came to being in her company. "Felt a bit stiff this morning, joints hurt too. They gave me a draught for it, but I know I'm just dreading this walk."

"Would you dread it as much if I was the one you went on a walk with?" James offered as he came over to sit next to her. "I don't see why I couldn't be the one to walk with you besides a Healer."

"Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that, James," she said with a shake of her head, " I'm a bit of grump when it comes to these walks. I feel bad enough taking my frustrations out on the Healers, I don't want to put you through that too."

"I rather you take it out on me than the Healers," James grinned, " you don't want to get on the bad side of the people trying to help you. I don't mind if you get grumpy with me, I definitely understand why you wouldn't be in the best moods. It'll be fine."

Renata wanted to argue with him, but James didn't really give her a choice as he left the room to find one of the Healers to speak with. She let out a slight groan before leaning her head back and closing her eyes for a few moments. She wasn't upset with James, she wasn't upset with the Healers, she was thankful for all of them. However, Renata was getting a little stir crazy from being in St Mungo's for so long.

Every night, she had a dream about being released, but with every passing day, she remained inside and she felt like she was actually going to go mad if they didn't let her out soon. They tried to reassure her every day that she was making excellent progress and before she knew it, it would be her time to leave the hospital. She didn't say anything to James as she didn't want to add any additional stress, but part of her was becoming highly discouraged.

When James did return, he wore a bright smile on his face, meaning that he had been given permision to be the one to escort her on her walk. Seeing him happy definitely brought her to smile despite what she was feeling internally. He walked over to assist her standing up and slowly, but surely, Renata made her way to her feet. She didn't feel pain as she anticipated, but she could feel the struggle as she didn't feel much of her strength.

For so long, it seemed she had taken the ability just to stand up on her own for granted and she wondered if her flexibility was going to return to what it used to be.

"I had another session with Dr Mullins today," James told her as they slowly made their way out of the room and into the corridor. Renata glanced around to see that there were Healers present, probably a precaution in case something happened. She hoped that they wouldn't be needed.

"How did that go?"

"It went really well actually," James said, " she's a really nice woman. She's pretty precise with picking up things and she's not pushy about discussing matters. It's really nice and she really does help straighten out my thoughts. Even the little things that I thought didn't bother me as much, she put it all into perspective of how they could pile up. I guess that's what my problem really was, that I wasn't addressing the little things and they kept piling up...until...well, never mind. This isn't exactly a topic that you want to discuss probably-"

"No, it's fine, James, "Renata reassured him, " I'm really glad that therapy is going well for you. Sometimes it's nice to have an outside perspective besides just our loved ones because we tend to know that they have a biased look when it comes to us. And it's great to hear that she's helping you address what you're facing and showing you how to address them on your own. I like her."

"She likes you too," James said with a chuckle, " probably because I spend the majority of the time talking about you."

He watched as Renata's face flushed a bright red, something that he had missed since in the recent days she had looked quite pale from being indoors all the time.

"Do you really?" she asked him.

"Of course I do! I talk about how beautiful you are to the point where a person who's never met you could paint an accurate portrait of you. I tell her about how wonderful you are with Harry from your story-telling to all the amazing games you come up to keep him entertained. I even told her how much I really wish my parents could have met you because I just know that they would love you. Dr Mullins was very impressed by the Chocolate Frog card that you gave to Harry for his birthday. And I'm still curious about how you managed to get it?"

"A lady must have her secrets, James," Renata said, " that's what keeps us desirable."

The two shared in a laugh as Renata didn't even know the meaning behind what she had said but it sounded good at the time in her head. However, her laughter didn't last for long because as they had been walking she didn't even realise that she had started becoming slower and slower with her pace. She was running out of steam and she could feel her legs wobble under her.

"James, I-"

She went to call out to James to tell him that she needed to sit down but she had been too late or so she thought. Her legs gave out but she didn't hit the floor as she anticipated as James had been carefully watching her out of the corner of his eye. He had managed to catch her under her arms before Renata hit the floor and quickly held her up.

"Put your arms around me," he instructed and stood perfectly still as her arms wrapped over his shoulders and around his neck loosely. There were a couple of Healers making their way over but James gave them a look signalling them to back off as he could handle it. Renata was light enough for him to carry, even if she wasn't able to help him support her weight. She leaned against him, her head resting on his shoulder.

"It's alright," James said, " I got you, don't worry. I'm not going to let you fall."

Suddenly, against his chest, James felt Renata's chest heave before she let out a sobbing sound. Her fingers gripped the back of his jumper tightly as she buried her face into the material to muffle the sounds.

"Ren? Ren, what's wrong? Re-"

"I don't want to do this anymore," she whispered to him as she couldn't bring herself to look up right away, " I don't want to stay here anymore! I want to go home! I want things to just go back to the way they were instead of having to go through this every single day. I hate it, I hate it so much!"

All the frustrations that she had hidden behind the smiles that she forced on her face were finally coming to the surface as she held onto him. James could sense her pain and he had to imagine that if what he was feeling was even a fraction of what Renata could feel as an Empath, she had to be the strongest person to live with it daily. He didn't know what he could say to comfort her because he had already told her what the Healers had said, she would be going home soon. The problem was, it wasn't soon enough for her.

"It's alright, Ren, I know this has been incredibly stressful on you and I know you want to go home, " James said, feeling a weight on his chest as well. "And I know you're tired of hearing soon, but it really is going to be soon. You don't know how much progress you've made in such a short amount of time. But you've been so strong throughout all of this, you're the stronest person I know, did you know that? And it's great that you're going through this now, because when Adelmo wakes up, he's going to have to go through it too, but you'll be able to help him. You'll understand better than anyone else..."

She didn't say anything, just pressing her forehead to his chest and sniffling as she realised that they were still out in the corridor.

"Close your eyes, Ren," James instructed her after a minute, leaving her confused as she peered up with a watery and puzzled gaze. "Trust me, close your eyes and place your feet over mine."

"Isn't that going to hurt you?" Renata asked, wondering where James was going with his train of thought, but he shook his head and instructed her once again to place her feet on top of his. She was hesitant, but eventually, she did as she was told. She eventually closed her eyes and feeling the slight off balance of not standing on the floor with, she held onto him tightly.

Without her knowing, James closed his eyes as well, wrapping one arm around her waist to hold her against him and resting his chin on her shoulder, drawing her even closer.

"I'm going to tell you a story," he said, " and I just want you to imagine it, alright?"

Renata gave a slight nod of her head, curious as to what the story was going to be about as she didn't really understand what James was setting to accomplish at the moment.

"We went to Putney's last night and you had a bit too much to drink and when I say a bit too much, I mean, you put my wine drinking to shame," he said and Renata felt him slowly begin to sway while he held onto her. "And this morning, you came out of the bedroom, your hair was a mess, your makeup from last night still on your face, although a bit smudged in some areas. You still looked beautiful though and slightly confused. You couldn't remember much of a last night , I can't say I blame you. But I made you some tea to soothe that hangover of yours, it didn't do the trick as I hoped. Your headache made you a bit clumsy."

He heard her let out a light laugh which brought him to smile as he continued on with his tale.

"You were falling all over the place and at one point, you almost fell to the floor but I caught you and I held you up. You put your feet on top of mind, just like how we are now. In the background, there's music playing, your favourite slow song, and I ask you to dance with me. You're shy at first, laughing and decline my offer, probably because you know my dancing skills surpass yours by far-"

"James!"

"Only joking," he added quickly as he hugged her closer, " but eventually, you give in and you dance with me. We sway to the music, you don't have to do anthing because I've got you. You don't have to worry about anything. Eventually, you're going to have to go back to bed to sleep off that hangover but for now, you're in my company and everything is alright. The music is growing fainter though...I can't hear it...can you sing it for me? What's the song that you hear?"

Renata had heard a song the entire time since he described that they were just dancing to her favourite slow song. And at his request for her to sing it to him, Renata gladly gave in.

For you, there'll be no more crying.
For you, the sun will be shining.
And I feel that when I'm with you,
It's alright, I know it's right.

To you, I'll give the world.
To you, I'll never be cold.
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you,
It's alright, I know it's right.

And the songbirds are singing, like they know the score.
And I love you, I love you, I love you, like never before.

And I wish you all the love in the world.

But most of all, I wish it from myself.

And the songbirds keep singing, like they know the score
And I love you, I love you, I love you
Like never before, like never before, like never before.

"That's perfect," he whispered in her ear, " even better when you sing it. But suddenly, the song comes to an end and it's just you and me in the kitchen. You open your eyes and-"

Before he could come to the ending of his story, Renata grabbed him by the collar of his jumper and pulled him into a kiss. James hadn't realised how long it had been since the two of them had shared in such an intimate moment until he felt her lips pressed against his and he didn't want the moment to end.

At the very least, James could say that the story had a happy ending.